Apparatus for flexing hides and leather



July 5, `1949 J. T. zlHLMAN ET Al. 2,474,884

APPARATUS FOR FLEXING HIDES AND LEATHER Filed Nov. 1, 1946 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 I 19 'zo ATTORNEYS.

Jul? 5, 1949. J. T. zn-ILMAN E1- AL 2,474,884

APPARATUS FOR FLEXING HIDES AND LEATHER Filed Nov. 1, 1946 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN VEN TOR. r/z/f/v Z- HL/114A ATTORNEYS.

Patented July 5, 1949 UNITED STA-TES Fries Application November 1, 19%, Serial No. 707,234

(CL. 69--29 )v 3' Claims. 1.

Our invention relates to apparatus for iiexing hides or leather to expose the fibers thereof to more ready penetration by-atreating fluid.

There are mechanical devices in the form of rotating drums into which hides and pieces of leather are exposed to the action of fluids in which the pieces are tumbled and violenti-y thrown about to the end of flexing-the pieces-so that penetration of the surfaces will be facilitated.

Such flexing as occurs in the various types of drums for this purpose i'snot controlled and-quite haphazard in theresul-ts produced. One hide may, for example, be thrown into sucha position that it covers another and the result is defective penetration of the covered hide.

It is the object of our invention to flexl pieces of hides or leather so as to open up the surfacev and fiber of the pieces-` The foregoing objects and other objects to which reference will be made in the ensuing disclosure, we accomplish-by the method hereinafter explained. The apparatusl illustrated and described may be modified within the scope of the principle involved to suit particular conditions.

In the drawings:

Figure l is a plan view of a flexing machine.

Figure 2 is a sectional view of the exing machine illustrated in Figure 1, as would appear' along the lines 2--2 in Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a detail sketch showing amodified type of conveyor which may be substituted for the specific type of conveyorillustratedy in Figures 1 and 2.

Figure 4 is a longitudinal'v vertical sectional view'of a further modified type of flexing machine.

Figure 5 is an enlarged detail'view of several iiights of the conveyor shcw-n in- Figure 4.

Referring first to Figures 1 and 2, the frame of' the machine is indicated at l. Within the frame is supported a tank or receptacle 2, Within which fluid material for treating the hidesl or pieces of leather is retained. The conveyor belts comprise continuous aprons of porous, open meshmetal or cloth composition, which. is veryexiblesoithat' it will follow the path of movement over the various rollers in the conveyor. Thus We have shown` the lower conveyor belt 3. whichpassesrover.v the rollers 4- and 5. Both rollers; are. iournaled in the` machine frame as indicated at 6-..

Passing down over. the roller 5 the-flexibleweb conveyor passes underneath the roller-.1Y journaled in the machine frame as. indicated at 8.

Passing under the roller! 'l the conveyor next passes up over the roller 9 journaled in the machine as indicated ata Ill-,theirdownA under the 2 rol-1er l i journaled in the machine as indicated at l2'. Then the conveyor passes up over the roller V3 journaled inthe machine frame as indicated at id.

Next the conveyor passes under the-roller l5` jo-urnaled in the machine frame as indicatedat l. From this position the conveyor passes upover the roller l? journal'edin the-machine frame as indicated at i8. l

Journaled in the machine fra-me as indicated at i9, 2li and 2l, are guide rollers located outside the tank or receptacle 2 over which the conveyor passes in returning to the roller'ii` at theover the roller 23, journaled' in the machine fran-re as indicated at 2t. The conveyor 25 is also -a ilexible open mesh, continuous conveyor like the underneath conveyor 3.

The spacing of the two open mesh conveyor-belts is such that at the inlet end ofthe machine a piece of hide or leather suchk as is indicated at A will be caught between the belts 2'5 and 3! andl conveyed along between the belts which iirst bend the piece in a slight. convex arc downwardly, followed by a bending in a concave arc as the piece travels over the roller 1.

The alternate concavo-convex flexing of the piece of hide or leather will be readily understoodby reference to Figure 2'. The` position at which the piece is fed into-the machine is indicated@ at A, and the position where the piece7 is discharged from the machine is indicated atv B.

Referring now to Figure 3, we have shownan alternative belt arrangement Where link belts Sliconnected vby flights 3i. The night 3`I of the lower conveyor engages a similar flight ci? the upper conveyor so that the leather piece isy clamped between the iiights andi thus carried through. the machine.

As. a drive we have shown a driven .belt 32` passing over a pulley 33, mounted on-ashaft- 3ft. A: driving gearA 35 is connected with driven gears- 36, 31, 33, 39, and. 4|..

It will he` readily understood that. thedrive for the rollers may locany'conventional' arrangement, the. particular drive. to hre; employed. tope deter# power available for operatingthemachinea In Figures 4 and 5, we have shown a still further modication of a machine for flexing pieces of hide or leather. In this modication the upper belt is indicated at 50, and as in the case of the belt employed in the modifications shown in Figures 1 and 2, it may preferably be of open mesh metal or other suitable material. The lower continuous conveyor belt is indicated at 5l. It will be understood that pieces of leather will be inserted into the machine at the lowermost position where the two mesh belts come together.

Without going into the detail of the alternate convex and concave arcs through which the belts pass, it will be suicient to state that there are two sets of rollers indicated generally at 52 and 53. The two conveyors 5i! and 5| come together and pieces of hide or leather are carried along between them, going through various controlled convexing operations.

In this modication we have shown troughs 54 for receiving treating liquor, and a pump 55 pumps treating liquor from a tank 55 to the uppermost trough 5d from which it overows into its next below trough and this overflow continues from one trough to another until the lowermost troughs are supplied with liquor which overows back to the tank 55, through a drip chute indicated at 5l.

The drip chute extends out around the pulleys so as to catch all the drippings from the various troughs. The leather pieces after having been flexed between the conveyors passing over the upper series of rollers, pass down through the troughs where they are exed in the opposed direction under the surface of the treating liquid.

It will be noted that the upper part of the machine does not have the liquor troughs. In some treatments of leather it is desirable that the pieces be prepared for further treatment by very extensive flexing manipulations. It will be obvious that the pieces of leather being discharged along the 4conveyor belt 6l at the top of the machine may be fed directly into another flexing machine of the same type which carries the pieces on to the intake end of another flexing machine, and that the nal treatment of the pieces may be during a passage from one floor of the plant to the oor above.

The frame for the machine illustrated in Figure 4 is indicated at 58, and the drive shaft for the conveyors indicated at 59. Some of the rollers over which the flexible conveyor belts pass may be idler rollers and others may be driven, dependent on the particular conditions of treatment for the piece of hide or leather which is taking place. It will be obvious that the method disclosed contemplates the flexing of pieces of hide in various arcuate directions.

The flexing machine and the process may be employed during the tanning of the hides, during the weighting of the hides or during the other processing ordinarily carried out from the initial stage of raw pieces of hide to the final stages 0f finished leather.

In the old method of weighting hides after they are bleached, the hides are wrung and surface moisture removed. An analysis of the hide at this point will give the moisture content which may be called the wet weight.

Based on this wet weight, which, analysis for moisture content shows, is ordinarily about twice the dry weight of the hide at this point, certain percentages by weight of ller materials are added tothe hides in tumbling mills. Then the '4 hides are removed and dried. Ordinarily there follows a rewetting of the hides in a vat in a solution of certain materials followed by the further addition of various ller materials and oils in tumbling mills.

These tumbling mills do not result in a uniform exposure of all the hides, which results in excessive waste of material. With ordinary practice and two dips, the relation of dry to wet Weight which has been commercially accomplished, has been of the order of '70%. By the method of controlled flexing as described herein, the continuous process developed takes only one treatment, and results as high as 80% of ratio of dry to Wet weight have been obtained.

By the use of our machines for flexing the leather as set forth herein, great economies in the use of material and in the time element involved result. It will be understood that one oi the results of the flexing will naturally be to eliminate long periods of drying out because the alternate flexing in diierent arcs of movement result in squeezing out the liquid contained in the hide. That which remains is permanently incorporated therein. For examples, in the use of the apparatus shown in Figure 4, the weighting of the hide may be carried out in the lower portion of the machine where the pieces are iiexed in the troughs for treating fluid, and by blowing currents of air against the hides during the balance of the movement through the machine, they may be adequately dried by the time they emerge at the top thereby saving days and weeks of drying operations which requires expensive labor to hang the hides up on the drying racks.

As a further modification of the processing, we have indicated in dotted lines in Figure 2, an apparatus such as is shown in the co-pending application of Scott Emerson, Serial No. 701,804, led October '7, 1946. Thus in Figure 2 an injection tube is indicated in dotted lines at C.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In combination an elongated frame extending upwardly at an angle and a conveyor comprising foraminated upper and lower conveyors movable in a series of concave and convex arcs, said frame supporting a series of baflles extending upwardly in such position as to form wells through which said conveyor passes during its concave arcs of movement.

2. In combination an elongated frame extendingr upwardly at an angle and a conveyor comprising foraminated upper and lower conveyors movable in a series of concave and convex arcs, said frame supporting a series of baliles extending upwardly in such positions as to form wells through which said conveyor passes during its concave arcs of movement, and means for supplying leather treating uid to the upper of said Wells.

3. In combination an elongated frame extending upwardly at an angle and a conveyor comprising foraminated upper and lower conveyors movable in a series of concave and convex arcs, said frame supporting a series of ballles extending upwardly in such positions as to form wells through which said conveyor passes during its concave arcs of movement, said frame being free of baffles at its upper end.

JOHN T. ZIHLMAN. SHELDON H, WALDRON.

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